Redring

Press Release: Great news for hunters and shooters

Redring®, the first custom designed shotgun sight in the world.

Redring® is made for over & under and semi-automatic shotguns. The reticle is a red ring visible inside the sight. Redring® boosts three world patents. To begin with a unique spot-metering reading the light of the target area and momentarily adjusting the intensity of the red ring reticle. Secondly, the back and front recoil absorbing rim mounts. And last but not least the red ring reticle itself. The size of the patented ring on target equals the shot diameter/burst at 20 meters. It surely improves the hit rate and reduces the risk of injuring the game to a minimum. The result is greater accuracy, more fun and more reliable hunting. Redring® is designed, developed and manufactured in Sweden.

Redring® is mounted free-floating directly on the rim of the gun. It only takes a couple of minutes. No alterations or changes of the gun are necessary. And the sight is so designed that once mounted on the gun, it’s ready to use. There is no need for sight-in or calibration. As the lightweight sight is mounted low on the rim, it will not have any noticeable effect on the balance of the gun. The sight comes with two sets of patented recoil absorbing mounts for rim widths ranging from 5 to 11.5 mm.

Invented by a Swedish expert shooter

Redring® was invented by P-O Östergren. P-O is famous among shooters and hunters all over Scandinavia and beyond. He is an experienced hunter and shooter who has, among other things, worked as shooting instructor for the Swedish and the Norwegian national shooting teams. For the last 25 years P-O has run his own hunting and shooting school. To date, more than 30 000 hunters and shooters have taken and passed their final exams under P-O’s critical supervision.

Solving common problems among shooters

Over the years as an instructor, P-O has identified some common problems among shooters. A proper grip and a correct sight alignment are essential to all shooters.
Imaging the target in a correct way is probably the most crucial of them all. The starting image and the firing image are critical in order to achieve a perfect shot. Redring® will help the shooter get the correct starting image of each shot. It’s from this point the shooter starts the swing or movement towards the firing image. The firing image is individually adjusted to each shooters swing tempo. With Redring® the shooter will have almost 100% control over the whole shooting process from start to hit.

User friendly, 100% parallax free

Unlike shooting with open sights, Redring® allows you to shoot with both eyes open, no matter which eye is dominant. The open eyes principle improves the situational perception and helps the shooter to identify the target faster. Since Redring® is 100% parallax free, what the shooter sees in the ring equals the target image, i.e when the ring is right in relation to the target, the shot most certainly is a hit. The eye relief doesn’t matter.

Technical data:

Battery: AAAA 1.5V
Weight: 132 g excluding mounts, 192 g including mounts
Length: 134 mm, mounts included
Width: 44 mm
Height: 45.7 mm, of which 33.6 mm above the rim
Material: Anodised aluminium (house and mounts)

For more information please contact:
Mr Henrik Berntsson, henrik.berntsson@redringsight.com, +46 767 927 101
Mr Joakim Frisk, joakim.frisk@redringsight.com, +46 767 927 102

Redring at IWA 2010

A warm welcome in the leading norwegian hunting magazine

This is a translation of the original norwegian article, published June 2010 in the magazine JEGER. Download the article here (PDF, 4,8mb)

GLOBAL LAUNCH:

REDRING

New sight for shotguns

Our tests leave us suitably impressed!

The Swedes blazed a trail deep into virgin territory when they developed the Aimpoint red dot sight for rifled firearms, and now it looks as though they’ve broken new ground again with the production of Redring – a sight for shotguns.

I have often thought that ordinary shotgun shooters might need some kind of sight, or rather a direction indicator, on their shotguns. Some of you maybe remember that I went so far as to force our editor-in-chief (who can only be described as an extremely proficient clay pigeon butcher) to take part in an experiment during which he had to spend an entire day shooting with various types of red dot sights mounted on shotguns that were entirely new to him. He used his own shotgun as a reference. The sights we used were intended primarily for rifled firearms, as there were quite simply none available for shotguns.

Allow me to summarize the day as follows: come the evening the results were remarkable!

I must admit that after the test my self confidence took a bit of a beating in the form of various sarcastic comments from the local self-appointed master marksmen. Oh boy, this was really sullying the noble art of clay shooting. But then we discover that no less than Swedish wildfowling and clay pigeon shooting guru P-O Östergren has been thinking along the same lines. Apart from competing at high level he also works as a shooting instructor for young and old, beginners and wily old foxes alike. During his many years as an instructor for thousands of pupils he came to understand the need for a sight that shows the shooter exactly where the shot pattern will hit, regardless of how the shotgun is held.

But it is a long and arduous road from concept to finished product. P-O put a number of capable, motivated and experienced men to work, and for an entire year they worked on developing Redring without a single journalist getting a sniff of it right up until the launch at the annual IWA trade fair.

So it was extraordinarily exciting to be one among the very first to take part in a test shoot.

Shocking experience.

At first the Redring sight seems unnecessarily wide, but it was not by chance that it was designed this way. The aim was to design the sight to be as low as possible, and so the battery and other technology was located along the sides. The result is a sight that is only raised five millimetres above the shotgun’s sight rail, and for most people this means that the gun’s stock will work as it is.

The sight is fitted to the rail with a world-patented, recoil-absorbing attachment. Three different attachments are included that can handle rails with widths of between five and eleven and a half millimetres.

A red ring is projected on the lens and marks the shot pattern. The ring is 60 cm at a distance of 20 metres and shows the shot hit pattern at 1/4 choke. At greater distances the ring expands in the same way as the shot pattern. In this way the sight is also an aid to improving the judgment of distance. In other words it’s easier to be aware when not to shoot if the entire roe deer can be seen inside the circle.
Another solution the company has taken out a global patent on is for light metering. Light is not measured in the entire picture, which is usually the case with other sights, but it is the light conditions within the ring and the area which it covers at any given time that forms the basis for automatic contrast setting for the red ring. And this takes place faster than the human eye can notice. It is also possible to change the intensity of the ring to suit personal preferences by selecting from different scales within which the light function works.

High-tech gadgets are always interesting, but the big question is whether they are of any real use. P-O Östergren hopes that Redring will reduce the number of non-fatal shots by helping the hunter more easily gain a feel for the whole shot sequence from initial image to the shot set-up and the final image. It should provide greater self confidence and help the hunter relax. It will be easier to refrain from taking doubtful shots, and when all is said and done this will result in more good hits. A lot more fun in fact!

A lot more fun indeed. I began carefully with a few shots at some stationary clays in a sandbank. Child’s play, you say? Well of course. But ask yourself this: would you be prepared to bet a month’s wages on hitting clays like this every time with your shotgun? Me neither. But the instant I took a look through the Redring sight I would have dared to make such a bet.

And then it was time to shoot some clays on a normal range. With muscles tense from performance anxiety I hit the first clay. And the second. And the third. It worked like magic; my anxiety faded away and my muscles relaxed after a while. I had missed but one of 28 clays and I thought it was time to call it a day. With a score like that it just felt like the proper thing to do.

As usual I am not making a big deal out of this. I can only note that I have never previously come even close to results like this.

We tested a prototype, so the appearance of the final product may differ somewhat. If you would like further information about the sight you can read more at:
www.redringsight.com

Text and photo: Alf Martin Bråten

Source: Jeger No. 4 2010. Norway’s biggest, most read hunting magazine!

Article in Svensk Jakt Nr. 9 2010

Article from Svensk Jakt, Nr. 9 2010, click on image to see larger version (PDF).

Here is the article translated to English:

Sight for shotguns

A sight for a shotgun has an uphill battle before it gets put on this page. In my eyes, it is one of the few gadgets that I really don’t need. But Redring has a new design that actually turned my head.

At the annual IWA exhibition, a new kind of innovation was released. A shotgun sight under the name Redring is based on the ideas and patents of the shooting instructor P.O. Östergren and is designed, built and owned in Sweden.
Redring is not a sight that initially appeals to experienced shooters with properly sized weapons and a high degree of training.
But a lot of hunters do not get enough practice, have not adjusted their stock so well or simply have problems with eye dominance, in other words, the left eye suddenly takes over when the right eye should be in control – with missed shots as a result.

Contemplated for many years

“I have been looking at this for many years,” says P.O. Östergren. “I have thought about a shotgun sight for many years, and now the technology is available to do what I want.” Two fundamental criteria have been that the sight should be mounted on the rim as low as possible, and that it should be mounted without damaging the weapon.
Redring achieves this by having the holographic technology that creates a red ring on the image, hence the name, sit on the sides of the rim instead of on top of it.
The sight therefore adds just 5 millimeters to the top of the rim. This corresponds to roughly a “pencil”, which many people recommend you should use to learn to shoot. This means that in most cases the stock does not need to be adjusted.
The actual sight is a red ring that is projected on a square. The visual field is large and the frame around the box does not interfere. The light strength of the ring can be adjusted by the shooter, and it automatically adjusts to the background.
The size of the ring is designed to correspond to the size of a charge of shot with a ¼ bore, or 65 centimeters at approximately 20 meters.

Improves the feeling

I have shot using a Redring sight and I can confirm a few things directly.
Firstly, the same rules apply as always: Keep the focus on the target, and the picture before, during and after the shot is equally important as when shooting without a sight. This doesn’t create any problems. But the feeling of control over how the shot will actually go is improved. My image of how I am positioned before, during and after the shot is a little clearer than before.
Secondly, the sight is very effective for stationary targets. The charge stays in the ring. In addition, the red ring provides immediate feedback whether my aim is correct. A few quick control measurements of wild animals at their natural size in principle removes the difficulty with determining distance.

Making life easier

At a minimum, I recommend each hunter get a properly sized shotgun and a few boxes of training ammunition each year. But the reality is that many hunters do not get enough practice, shoot too poorly and never have enough time or opportunity to take their shotgun skills to the next level.
Even if I would rather send them to the stock manufacturer and shooting school, I am forced to admit that I believe that Redring can make life a little easier for many of these types of hunters. Not least, I am thinking of the hunters with hounds who just shoot a few game targets each year, often stationary or slowly moving ones.

Expensive product

Redring is a pretty expensive product. The price is around SEK 8,000. It includes a host of advanced functions, and can even be hooked up to a computer for updates and special settings, but in principle it is a small, robust and powerful tool.

Facts about Redring

The sight weighs 242 g including the mount. It is screwed directly onto the rim, mounted roughly between the weapon’s natural handles and therefore makes little difference in terms of balance. It has a patented design for handling the recoil force, comes with three brackets and can handle rims between 5–11.5 mm. One AAAA battery supplies the power, and the working temperature ranges between –30 and +50 degrees. Redring appears to be waterproof.

From Svensk Jakt No. 9/2010 (Swedish Hunting)

Article in Latvian Magazine

Article in Latvian magazine MMD. Click image below to read PDF version (in Latvian).

Article in Russian Magazine Brotherhood of the Ring

Download the original russian article as a PDF, or the english translation on the links below:

Original Russian article

English translation

Image from the article.

Article in Polish Magazine

To read original Polish version, Click thumbnail below (PDF).

Redring: shotgun reflex sight

Classical mechanical sights are slowly fading into the past. Having replaced open sights in military and law enforcement forces for a long time now, optical and optoelectronic sights are pushing their way into other shooting domains, including sport and hunting.

Leszek Erenfeicht

This is really nothing new. Optical sights were developed for older, wealthy gentlemen, whose eyes were no longer as sharp as they used to be, but who still wanted to show off at hunting. From there they were adopted by the military during World War I, and their use started to gain real momentum.

Until now, equipment of this type was used mainly with rifles, and a hunter with “such a device” attached to a shotgun for smaller game, such as birds or hare, would cause much amusement on hunting grounds. Shotguns with optoelectronics were usually seen at shooting ranges patronized by practical shooters, who for a long time had followed the American example and used military-type reflex sights with their pump-action shotguns.

On 14 of October, at the Legia shotgun shooting range in Rembertów, Artemix, a company based in Warsaw, organized a presentation for the press and potential co-distributors, which gave guests an opportunity to test shotgun sights from Redring – a Swedish company represented in Poland by Artemix. Over a dozen guests attended the presentation delivered by Joakim Frisk, a representative of the manufacturer. Afterwards, everyone had a chance to try the sights for themselves by shooting double-barrelled shotguns at skeet, trap ranges and a hare silhouette.

Sweden is a country with a long tradition of hunting and shooting for sport, and has maintained a policy of neutrality since the Napoleonic Wars and its adventurous past. Thanks to Aimpoint, Sweden has become one of the leading developers of optoelectronic sights, invented – as is sometimes forgotten – with hunters in mind. Their main customer is the US Army, ensuring plenty of combat experience. It is not surprising that another manufacturer of reflex sights has emerged in such a country. To avoid fighting a losing battle, it has found its own niche market and specializes in reflex sights dedicated for shotguns.

Problems ...

Per-Olof Östergren is a one-man institution in Swedish shooting. An experienced hunter and sport shooter, he has run his own shooting academy for 25 years, awarding its diplomas to over 30,000 graduates. While training thousands of people, P-O (as he is known at work and in print) noticed some problems that most shooters experience. The most important of these are proper position, gripping the weapon and viewing the sights. Beginners have trouble with choosing the right elements when looking through the sights and viewing the target. This is very important for an accurate shot, and correct choice is essential, as the human eye is not capable of keeping the fore sight, the sighting notch and the distant target in focus at the same time. This problem is solved by the design of the reflex sight, which places the reticle in the same plane as the target, relieving the shooter of the necessity of choosing and adjusting focus quickly, which become harder with age. But this is only half the problem; it is also necessary to be able to position the reticle correctly, i.e. to choose the aiming point to suit the conditions of the shot. There is a plethora of optoelectronic sights for rifled firearms, and some of them were tested on shotguns in Östergren’s academy, but none of them really met the requirements set by P-O, so he had to build his own.

First, existing reflex sights were set too high (designed for rifles with a linear butt configuration), which negatively impacted on the balance of an already high weapon (double-barrelled, over/under shotgun). Secondly, the majority of shotguns have rather thin and mechanically not very sturdy sight rails. During intensive shooting, vibrations from heavy and high-mounted sights acting with a long lever arm occasionally caused rail deformation. Thirdly, most of the reflex sights on the market have a reticle suitable for rifle firearms, and not for a swarm of pellets. Last but not least, although many of them offer the choice of up to several dozen levels of brightness for the reticle, most of them require this to be set manually. However, when aiming at a target moving across a background of varying light intensity during positioning, leading and shot (grass, forest, sky and back), a single constant setting is simply inadequate for proper use.

... and solutions

The answer to all these shortcomings lies in the design of the Redring sight. First of all, its name (red ring) reflects the most obvious difference when assuming position for the first time. In this design, the usual red dot reticle is replaced by a wide red circle, which is better suited to pellet shooting. This is divided into four sections (90° each), allowing for easier application of angle corrections. The circle itself corresponds (approximately, because every shell, barrel and gun changes the characteristics of coverage) to the spread of pellets from a distance of 20 metres, and this relates to the first of the three Östergren patents. It makes aiming easier and instinctive, as well as allowing the shooter to see everything within range of pellets, so he can hold the shot if it could hit something that should not be hit. The sight is lightweight (192 g with its base and battery) and is positioned low above the sight rail (lower edge of sight window is only 5 mm above the rail), which was made possible by placing the electronics and battery case at the sides of the sight located below the rail. Low placement minimizes – as far as possible – parallax error, which is always present in the case of double-barrelled guns regardless of their orientation. The ability to mount the sight at the centre of gravity of a weapon also allows the change of balance to be minimized, so the presence of additional weight is almost unnoticeable. In order to prevent damage to the rail, the base is equipped with a special spring mechanism (covered by the second patent), designed to absorb recoil and cancel out vibrations. This allows the sight to be mounted on rails ranging from 5 to 11.5 mm wide. The third patent covers the circuit that measures the intensity of light and adjusts the brightness of the reticle in real time. The performance of this circuit really made an impression when on a sunny, October day at a shooting range in Rembertów, we had a chance to try out the Redring sight, and the reticle was clearly visible regardless of background.

Redring is aimed more at hunters than sportsmen, as ISSF competition regulations exclude the use of this type of sight in competitions. Additionally, the price makes it attractive to owners of higher quality shotguns. The use of advanced electronics and materials (magnesium case) sets the retail price (still the lowest in Europe) at PLN 2,900. The Redring sight will shortly be available in Artemix and other good hunting stores in Poland.

Article in Dutch magazine Jagen

To read original article, click thumbnail below.

A revolutionary "aiming telescope" for shotguns

Your JAGEN, together with a few renowned arms manufacturers and traders, was recently invited to Kurt Beulens's beautiful hunting ground in Jodoigne.
We had the privilege of being introduced to a revolutionary product from the Swedish company Redring AB from Gothenburg.
In addition to hunting master Kurt Beulens, guests included Mr. Cornelis 't Mannetje from Vinck & Co, importer, and Mr. Hendrik from Redring AB.

At the moment, a Redring can be mounted on a superposed or a semiautomatic shotgun. A sight for juxtaposed shotguns is currently being developed.

After being welcomed with aromatic coffee and oven-fresh cookies, the invited guests were given a 50-minute presentation on Redring, the revolutionary shotgun sight. The interesting presentation was given by Hendrik from the production company. The questions put forward by the guests were answered in a way that revealed great expertise. We were then given the opportunity to put the knowledge gained to the test at the rear of the hunting lodge, where a clay machine had been set up. When we first started, it took some getting used to. But soon most of the guests got the hang of it, and many clays were shot to powder.
Following a delicious lunch, everyone went to Kurt's beautiful, well-kept hunting ground, where many fast pheasants, ducks and pigeons were put to the test by the revolutionary Redring. Many birds were snatched from the air by the guests without any problem. The many hares that showed themselves in the snowy field were spared by the hunters.
The snow and mist, which occasionally let through some watery sunshine, gave the hunting ground an almost surreal aspect. In short, this was perfect decor for a beautiful day.

THE PRODUCT

The Redring is the result of years of research and development by the Swedish company P-O Östergren. P-O is very well known among hunters and riflemen in the Scandinavian countries and far beyond. The company has been running a hunting and shooting school for more than 25 years. More than 30,000 hunters and riflemen received their training and acquired their certificate there.

The Redring was really a brilliant idea from the start, and it has now become a world-class product, which has been designed, developed and produced in Sweden. No concessions whatsoever have been made in terms of quality and design.

Redring's modest design makes each weapon look special. It was designed for superposed and semiautomatic shotguns. At the moment, a solution for juxtaposed shotguns is being developed. The Redring fits onto 95% of smooth-barrel arms, with a rib of 5 to 11.5 mm. The RR can also be transposed from one weapon to another without any problems. Nothing needs to be readjusted or modified.

Removing the RR takes less than ten seconds, which is very useful when it is raining. The RR can be removed in no time, and you can take aim again immediately. Its light weight means that the RR has no influence at all on the weapon's balance. It has major advantages. However, the hunter-rifleman will have to learn to shoot with both eyes open from now on. Trying is the keyword! There is no need to take into account dominant eyes, etc.; the shooter can now even see where his shot ends up, which is an advantage in particular for clay shooters. The hunter has an advantage with the RR which is not to be underestimated: he will be much better able to estimate the distance to the object to be shot. The proportion of the game animal in the red ring gives the hunter an indication of the distance to the animal, and will allow him to place a good shot on each occasion. Apologies for shots at too long a distance are made impossible by the RR.

The Redring operates on a 1.5 volt battery , with a lifespan of about 300 hours. Forgot to switch it off after the hunt? No problem: the device will switch itself off after 4 hours. The patented spot metering means that the red ring adjusts itself automatically to the target's light background. This means that the ring will always remain clearly visible. Each Redring has a unique number and a USB connection. The product, including assembly, weighs 192 grams in total, and is 134 x 44 mm. It has an attractive design which is modest and timeless, and it has been produced from ultra-light, sturdy, aircraft aluminium. Once assembled, it sticks out 33.6 mm above the weapon's rib. The RR also has patented shock absorption. Just one disadvantage, perhaps, is the price. The producer has opted for one fixed price, 790 Euros, for the whole of Europe. This might seem rather expensive. Yet, the price is only relative. For that price, the buyer gets a product renowned all over the world, with a five-year guarantee. The product gives its user a huge amount of satisfaction, target certainty and hunting pleasure. The gun can be transferred from one weapon to the next in a few seconds, so it can be shared with friends, brothers, sons or daughters. The Redring is certainly value for money for hunters or riflemen who are just starting out. Hunters and riflemen who are advanced in years and whose sight might be deteriorating slightly or whose dominant eye is on the wrong side have now been provided with a solution by PO Östergren from Sweden: the "Redring". It's certainly worth a try! If you are interested, you can find further information on www.redringsight.com
The author and JAGEN would like to thank Kurt, Cornelis and Hendrik for the wonderful day and the unique experience with an evolutionary piece of equipment.

Article in Norwegian Magazine Jakt

To read original article in norwegian, please click the thumbnail below.

IS REDRING THE GREAT SALVATION?

Redring is the world’s first and only specially developed optical sight for shotgun shooting! We tested it.

My first introduction to the Redring was at the Nordic hunting and fishing festival, where I was promised to be able to test Redring while bird hunting last fall. The plan was to do some test shooting, but most of all to get hunting experience with Redring. But not everything goes as planned, and delays for new products in the hunting and weapons industry are not unusual. The inventor of the Redring is P.O. Østergren, who is well known among Nordic hunters and shooters. I finally got my first Redring in January, and it was only a question of digging out the clay pigeon machine for the test shooting.

Simply put the Redring is an optical sight with an illuminated target sight. But in contrast to known sights such as Aimpoint, the Redring doesn’t have a red point, it has a red ring, like the name says.
At 20 meters distance, the ring corresponds to an area roughly 60 cm in diameter – roughly the size of the shot burst from a quarter bore choke at the same distance. Redring is parallax-free and what you see in the ring is an image of the target. You can shoot with both eyes open, the image in the sight should be correct regardless of whether you are using your dominant eye or not. When the ring is in the correct position in comparison to the target, your shot will hit the mark.

The old discussion whether to use a sight or not is naturally always relevant for shotgun shooters. But one thing that isn’t always so easy is to teach beginners is that even though shotgun shooting is about pointing, you must have control over the sight/muzzle in order to hit your mark. With Redring, you have to be asleep in order not to see whether the ring is in position for the target.

Shotgun purists will probably feel that an optical sight on a shotgun is sacrilege. At least until they have tested a Redring … The rifleman who is struggling to hit their targets with shot, will probably find that the Redring solves a lot of the mystery in shotgun shooting. It is easy to see where the ring and the target is when firing the shot. And for hunting instructors and other people who are teaching beginners the noble art of shotgun shooting, it is a lot more concrete to explain where the orange clay should be in relation to the red ring than to explain the relationship between the clay pigeon, sight/muzzle, eye and rest on the stock.

With Redring, it is so easy because the red ring is where the shot will land after squeezing the trigger. Of course skewed pigeons and side shots are another thing. But the ring can still be of help. It shows how far you are in front of the clay pigeon. Even if the rifleman needs a little practice not to aim for the middle of the clay pigeon.

On to the test shooting. With a Redring on a Remington 11-87 loaded with Gyttorp Steel Max, it was easy to shoot the orange clays from the sky. With a Redring on a Remington semiautomatic, 23 of the 25 pigeons were hit. The two that escaped were real flock birds, as the trigger pull came while the orange was inside the red ring. As you know, that’s when you are bound to miss…

My impression is that it is extremely easy to see if the target image or sight image is correct with Redring on the shotgun. You could almost say that it is enlightening. I probably aim more with Redring on the shotgun than without it, but it is simply easier to use and to explain to a person who has no experience with shooting a shotgun. Correctly installing and adjusting the stock is probably also not as important with a Redring on the shotgun.

Automatic shut-off after four hours is not practical for a hunting sight, since it isn’t easy to keep track of time when you are hunting. Eight hours or more would have been better in my opinion. But this helps to save the battery power. Only Aimpoint has been able to break the code for battery life. Redring is in a class with most viewer-sights using a red dot. But 300 hours is certainly enough for a year’s worth of hunting for most people. Changing the battery couldn’t be easier on the Redring.

Besides, I also had to test shooting with the Redring turned off. There was no problem hitting the pigeons – just get the orange in the middle of the frame that Redring shows in the viewing field – and it shatters.

It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future. But my prediction is that the Redring will be one of the most talked-about and discussed products of the year, and many people will try to make shotgun shooting easier with an optical sight. From my perspective, I am sure that I will get a Redring for hunting this coming fall, and to try it out in practice. Both in terms of shooting and to see how the Redring tolerates the variable conditions in the fall.